Understanding the global 3D signature of tree biodiversity
Atticus E Stovall, NASA GSFC / UMD, atticus.stovall@nasa.gov (Presenter)
John Armston, University of Maryland, armston@umd.edu
Shukhrat Shokirov, Self, shukhrat811@gmail.com
Mathias Disney, University College London, mathias.disney@ucl.ac.uk
Kim Calders, Wageningen University, kim.calders@wur.nl
Lisa Bentley, Sonoma State University, lisa.bentley@sonoma.edu
Temilola E. Fatoyinbo, NASA GSFC, lola.fatoyinbo@nasa.gov
Conservation of the biodiversity in forests at a global scale is directly dependent on understanding the factors influencing habitat structure. Yet, the standard metrics for assessing biodiversity (Essential Biodiversity Variables) do not capture the 3D complexity of ecosystems and are constrained to simplistic measures of ecosystem structure (e.g. canopy cover or tree height). Understanding the factors influencing more complex tree architectural traits in forests will support mapping and monitoring of forest biodiversity and the effectiveness of conservation efforts.
Here, we present an ongoing effort to develop a first-of-its-kind global database built from thousands of ground-based laser scanning data (the Global Terrestrial Laser Scanning Database) from which we derive tree-level and plot-level architectural traits important for biodiversity, or structural biodiversity traits (SBTs), across environmental gradients. We will provide the newest results from our global database, highlighting some preliminary trends in allometric scaling relationships and environmental drivers of SBTs. In addition, we will discuss our strategy to fill spatial gaps in the database with community contributions and targeted field campaigns coincident with spaceborne observations of forest structure. A database of high-resolution 3D laser scanning data from around the world offers a unique capacity to improve our fundamental understanding of drivers of tree-level architecture, while directly supporting conservation efforts.
Poster: Poster_Stovall_3-18_142_35.pdf
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 3-18
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Poster Session 3
Session Date: Thu (May 11) 3:00-5:00 PM
CCE Program: BDEC